Finding Unauthorized Faith…

Welcome to Superhero Monday! I’m trying something different for the lineup on PotterWars, let me know how you like it. 🙂 Here’s a brief run-down (subject to change) before we get into today’s post:

Superhero Monday

Potter Tuesday

Star Wars Wednesday

Throw Back Thursday #TBT

Friday with Friends

Special shout out to the Hubby, who helped me come up with this evil magical plan! 😉

Spoiler Alert: watch episode 5 before reading.

The title of episode 5 is How Does She Do It? and you may think they mean Supergirl, but they actually mean multiple women. The first “How does she” is spoken my James Olsen about Cat. He’s filling in for her while she is away receiving an award—and, if he had hair, he’d be ripping it out.

Supergirl finds herself spread too thin when two bomb threats come in simultaneously. One, at the airport where Lucy Lain is and James Olsen is headed. The other, at Lord Maxwell’s new train launch where Cat’s son has run off to. Supergirl sends the DEO to the airport and flies off to save the people on the train. When she gets there, she finds the bomber with the bomb strapped to him at the front of the train…

Ethan: You try to move me off the train, it goes off instantly.

Supergirl: Ethan, I want to help you. But you’ve got to deactivate that first.

Even after Supergirl throws a DC-version of 1 Corinthians 10:13 at him, Ethan still ends up taking his life. Supergirl does save the train (and the DEO stops the bomb at the airport) but she can’t save him.

Kara: I just don’t know how you do it, Ms. Grant. I don’t understand how you juggle it all.Cat: Oh, Keira. You have just stumbled upon the most annoying question of the century, and you are so young that you do not even realize it. How do you juggle it all? You learn, that’s how. You start with two balls before adding another. I figured out how to be brilliant in business and then I added being a brilliant mother. Far too many women burn out trying to do too much before they’re ready.Kara: So you can have it all?

Cat: Of course. Just not all at once, and not right away. And not with that hair. Use conditioner, for God‘s sake.

How does she do it? How do any of us do it? We learn. The trials in life grow and strengthen us so that we are able to take on more and more. But this strength needs to be grown over time not all at once.

Dear brothers and sisters,when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. ~ James 1:2-8 NLT

And trials are what Supergirl has in store for her… or, I should say, that Maxwell Lord has in store for her…

Supergirl: Caught your press conference. I was surprised, you’re usually a little more glib.

Lord: There was nothing to be glib about. A sick little girl lost her father.

Supergirl: That little girl’s being treated by a doctor who has a lifetime grant from your company. You said, tonight, you always build in fail-safes. Like the kill switches in those bombs. Something tells me that there was a fail-safe in Knox’s bomb, too. One that you could’ve remotely activated if I didn’t save you in time. You forced Knox to plant those bombs in exchange for saving his daughter’s life.

Lord: I would never barter a child’s life. I can’t speak for Knox’s motives. He clearly went insane.

Supergirl: Maybe you didn’t expect Knox to vaporize himself, but I do know this was all a ruse. I just can’t figure out why you did it.

Lord: Fascinating theory. Unprovable, but worth exploring. I suspect that whoever is responsible for these attacks might be curious about you, Supergirl. What is she made of? How does she do it?

Supergirl: You were testing me.

Lord: (LAUGHS) And what would these tests have shown us? The drone would have measured your agility. The building explosion, your strength. The next bomb would’ve demonstrated your speed while also revealing you’re not actually invincible. (SUPERGIRL SIGHS) But the results of that last test are the most intriguing of all. You chose to save a hundred people on that train, instead of thousands at the airport. One might deduce that there was someone on that train that you cared about. And finding that person is the key to revealing who you really are when you’re not flying around wearing that “S.”

Supergirl: For the record, I care about everyone. You may have fooled this city, but I know you were behind this. And I’m watching you.

Lord: This isn’t over.

Supergirl: Finally, something we can agree on.

Lord: The fun is just beginning.

I don’t know if you caught it in the episode, but if you pay close attention to one of the news headlines you will see that it says, “Lord’s Super Trial…” (kind of like Lord’s Supper which is followed by his trial). Throughout the episode, Maxwell is mostly referred to by his surname—Lord. And this final dialogue between him and Supergirl is very symbolic. It is almost as if we are watching two aspects of God go at each other. Lord is testing Supergirl and she thinks this is a bad thing (Spoiler: Lord is the one who brings together the Justice League). He’s seeing if she has the inner strength to face what being a member of the Justice League will bring her up against.

At the same time, Supergirl plays the Christ figure too. She cares about everyone, as Christ did, not just the little boy she saved. She chooses to save the 100 over the 1000s; Jesus tells a parable about the Good Shepherd leaving the 99 and going after the one that needs his help (though he cares for all his sheep). And I also think Supergirl plays the Christian-everyman role in her frustration with Lord’s testing. She doesn’t see why she has to be tested as she does, as many of us usually don’t see when we are in the midst of a trial. I predict that Maxwell Lord will come out as a good guy and Supergirl will eventually see why he did what he did.